High or low? Comparing high and low-variability phonetic training in adult and child second language learners.
High or low? Comparing high and low-variability phonetic training in adult and child second language learners.
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作者：
Giannakopoulou A;Brown H;Clayards M;Wonnacott E
高说话者可变性（即，输入中的多个语音）在训练成人的非母语语音对比中是有效的。少数研究表明，儿童也受益于高变异性语音训练，一些证据表明，他们比成年人表现出更大的学习能力（更大的可塑性），尽管结果好坏参半。然而，没有研究直接比较儿童高与低说话者变异的有效性。母语为希腊语的8岁奥尔兹（N = 52）和成年人（N = 41）通过计算机单词学习游戏在10个培训课程中接触英语/i/-//对比。训练前和训练后的测试检查了对比的歧视以及词汇学习。参与者被随机分配到高（四个谈话者）或低（一个谈话者）的可变性训练条件。两个年龄组在训练过程中都有所改善，并且在与一个说话者一起训练时都有更大的改善。三个间隔的古怪辨别测试的结果并没有显示出高变异性训练在任何年龄组中的预期益处。相反，孩子们表现出相反的效果，即，可靠的更大的改善，在歧视后，单一的谈话者培训，即使是未经训练的概括项目，虽然结果是合格的（偶然）之间的差异参与者组在预测试。成年人表现出数字优势的高变异性，但不一致的语音和文字的新奇性。此外，词汇学习没有发现变异性的影响。没有证据表明儿童学习者的语音学习具有更大的可塑性。这篇论文增加了少数研究表明，像成年人一样，儿童学习者可以通过计算机培训提高他们的语音对比的歧视。没有证据表明多个谈话者的训练对辨别力或单词学习有好处。研究结果也不支持先前的论文中发现的儿童学习者具有更大的可塑性。我们讨论了这些结果在目前的工作中使用的训练和测试任务之间的各种差异与以前的文献相比。
High talker variability (i.e., multiple voices in the input) has been found effective in training nonnative phonetic contrasts in adults. A small number of studies suggest that children also benefit from high-variability phonetic training with some evidence that they show greater learning (more plasticity) than adults given matched input, although results are mixed. However, no study has directly compared the effectiveness of high versus low talker variability in children. Native Greek-speaking eight-year-olds (N = 52), and adults (N = 41) were exposed to the English /i/-/ɪ/ contrast in 10 training sessions through a computerized word-learning game. Pre- and post-training tests examined discrimination of the contrast as well as lexical learning. Participants were randomly assigned to high (four talkers) or low (one talker) variability training conditions. Both age groups improved during training, and both improved more while trained with a single talker. Results of a three-interval oddity discrimination test did not show the predicted benefit of high-variability training in either age group. Instead, children showed an effect in the reverse direction—i.e., reliably greater improvements in discrimination following single talker training, even for untrained generalization items, although the result is qualified by (accidental) differences between participant groups at pre-test. Adults showed a numeric advantage for high-variability but were inconsistent with respect to voice and word novelty. In addition, no effect of variability was found for lexical learning. There was no evidence of greater plasticity for phonetic learning in child learners. This paper adds to the handful of studies demonstrating that, like adults, child learners can improve their discrimination of a phonetic contrast via computerized training. There was no evidence of a benefit of training with multiple talkers, either for discrimination or word learning. The results also do not support the findings of greater plasticity in child learners found in a previous paper. We discuss these results in terms of various differences between training and test tasks used in the current work compared with previous literature.